


Lock and Key

by inawasteland



Series: 25 Days of Rooster Teeth [3]
Category: Red vs. Blue
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-04
Updated: 2014-12-04
Packaged: 2018-02-28 02:27:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,517
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2715542
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/inawasteland/pseuds/inawasteland
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Carolina works at a jewelry kiosk in the mall and York is shopping for his girlfriend.  Or, at least, that's what he's told Carolina.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Lock and Key

Working in a mall during the holidays was not exactly ideal, but it meant money, and a jewelry kiosk was one of the better establishments. At least they had a range of things to choose from and most of the pieces were fairly affordable. The quality was decent and they got quite a few customers every day. Enough to fill their quotas and ensure that Carolina got a fairly good commission.

But that still didn’t make it any better a job. Especially now, with all the entitled idiots coming out in droves thinking that somehow if there was a piece in gold it had to be in silver too and _what do you mean that sale doesn’t apply to pendants?_

The holiday rush couldn’t be over fast enough.

Not to mention, the music. Christmas music was already playing before Thanksgiving even ended and if these songs were forever embedded in her head she was going to flip all the display cases. _All of them._

While the other girl that manned the kiosk with her was off on break, Carolina rearranged some of the displays with new stock that had just come in. She was so busy she almost didn’t realize there was a customer standing, waiting to be helped.

“Sorry to keep you waiting,” Carolina apologized, standing up straight and putting on her best smile. It was a guy that was standing there, looking bashfully out of place with all the jewelry that he clearly was clueless about. “How can I help you?”

The guy looked sort of in a trance at first, and Carolina was confused. Normally people liked to browse the merchandise to get an idea of what they were going to look at more closely, but he was staring at _her_. For a moment, she thought there was something wrong with her hair, or her face, but no, the guy was probably just a fucking weirdo. Figured.

“Uh...right! I’m in the market for a necklace. For...uh...my girlfriend.”

With the way the stranger was acting, Carolina wasn’t sure how the guy managed to snag a girlfriend, let alone keep her. She couldn’t wait to tell her co-worker all about this when she got back from lunch.

“Okay, well all of our necklaces are over here,” Carolina motioned for the guy to follow her on the opposite side of the kiosk. “What price range are you looking for? That might help narrow things down a bit more.”

There was a pause as the guy appeared to consider this and Carolina raised an eyebrow while he apparently had an internal debate. Seriously, how hard was it to decide these things _ahead of time?_

“Twenty to forty maybe?” he suggested and shoved his hands into his pockets. How charming.

“Well then one of these might interest you,” Carolina responded, trying to keep that smile, trying to seem pleasant and drive the sale. Commission, she reminded herself, would be worth all of this. “We have some really lovely pendants, or if you are looking for more of a statement necklace, those are in style these days.” Even though he gave forty as more of a max, she knew it was always worth trying to drive that up just a little. “It depends on what she likes, what you’ve seen her wearing already.”

With the way they were hunched over the display case, they were a bit closer than Carolina had anticipated. Normally there was a great deal of distance between her and the customer, but apparently this guy had no concept of personal space. How did she get so _lucky?_

“Well, she seems to be more into the simple things, so maybe a pendant. What would you suggest? What are your favorite pieces?”

It wasn’t new, that kind of question. Carolina had to give suggestions to clueless boyfriends and fathers all the time. So she didn’t think anything of it when she unlocked the display case with the key hanging on a coil keychain around her wrist and pulled out the necklace she had been pining over for the better part of the past two weeks. It was simple, but the details on it were just _wonderful_. It was a silver chain and a couple of charms hanging from it - a heart-shaped lock and key. The lock had diamonds along the outer edge of the keyhole. It normally went overlooked for some of the more extravagant pieces, but Carolina didn’t care. That just meant there was a chance she could get it for herself when the holidays were over.

“This is my favorite piece,” Carolina offered, draping the chain over her hand and placing her free palm so that he could see the charms contrasted against her skin. “It’s simple, which if she likes the simple, I think she will like it.” The price was also within the guy’s range, so she didn’t even have to worry about him being scared away by the tag.

“I’ll take it.” No hesitation, whatsoever, which surprised Carolina. Normally they liked to shop around more, take their time, get some more suggestions. But this guy was different, and well, if the sale was going to be quick, then she was not complaining.

“Excellent choice. Let me just pop this in a box for you and I’ll ring you up. Did you want a gift receipt?” She went through the motions in pulling a small jewelry box from her supplies and locked the display case up again. When the guy declined the gift receipt, she shrugged it off and simply tied a bow around the box, punching the price into the register, and swiping his credit card. This might have been the easiest sale of the season. Not the best one, but just the quickest.

“Here you are, sir. Enjoy your holidays!” She kept the cheery attitude up until he left and then leaned back against the display case, trying not to show her exhaustion to the passersby, in case any of them were considering taking a look at her kiosk. It was almost time for her shift to end and the girl should have been just about done with her break. Just a couple hours to go and she was free for the day.

When her shift ended, she handed the key to the display case to her co-worker. “Don’t forget to do inventory and lock everything up before you leave or I’ll never hear the end of it,” Carolina told Connie, pulling her hair up into a ponytail and checking to make sure everything was in order. “Good luck, hope your closing goes smoothly!” Connie waved and yelled at her to go before she made Carolina close instead, and so Carolina got the fuck out of there before she found out if Connie was actually serious. Like hell was she taking any chances.

And when she went to leave the mall, leaning against the wall was the guy from earlier, apparently waiting for someone. Curiously, the only thing he seemed to have bought was the jewelry box from her kiosk. How long was this guy even here?

“Ah, please tell me your shift is over!” And when Carolina looked around, she realized he was talking to her. She nodded, dumbfounded. “Well then, I got you a present.”

Her eyes only widened more when he presented her with the box that she had prepared earlier for his “girlfriend.” What the fuck. What was this?

“I...don’t understand...?” Carolina took the box in spite of her confusion, turning it around in her hands as if this were a trick.

“I’ve seen you working at that place for weeks now but never had the guts to say anything. And then you asked if you could help me and I panicked. But I saw the way you looked at that necklace, and okay, you’ve dealt with some rude assholes so I thought, sure, you deserve something nice for all that trouble. And, well, you don’t have to say yes, but I was hoping maybe you’d want to come to dinner with me and a couple friends? I’m York, by the way.”

All through York’s speech, Carolina just stared in shock. She had no idea what to even _say_ to all of that. It wasn’t that she didn’t appreciate what he had done, because she did, but could she really accept a gift from a stranger just because he felt sorry for her for what she had to go through? But then he mentioned dinner, and he seemed sweet and oh hell, he was pretty handsome, too, she couldn’t deny that much.

Fuck, what was it going to hurt? She had no plans and she could use something to get her mind off work.

“Only if I can buy you something you’ve had your eyes on, too,” Carolina relented, hooking her arm around York’s and leading the way through the parking lot. “Carolina. Nice to meet you, York.”

And by the time they got to the restaurant where the Dakota twins, Maine, and Wash were waiting, Carolina was wearing York’s heart around her neck.


End file.
